The latest data reveals that Spain’s property market is back to pre-crisis levels, and that British buyers are the leading group of foreigners investing in Spanish real estate.

During the first half of 2018, a total of 53,359 house purchases were completed by non-Spanish nationals, according to the latest data released by the General Council of Notaries.

The figure is 20,000 more than at the peak of the property boom in 2007 before the bubble burst and sent Spain reeling into an economic crisis that continued for six years. Fuelling the rise in property prices is interest from foreign buyers with 18.7% of Spanish property sales being made to overseas buyers.

British buyers continue to make up the largest group of foreign nationals buying property in Spain with 7,613 purchases between January and June, an 8.8% rise on the same period a year earlier, and they now represent 14% of foreign investors. Purchases by Brits have gone up 13% since the June 2016 referendum which saw the UK vote to leave the European Union.

The Brits bought almost twice as many properties as the French, who were the second largest group (buying 4,211 properties in all), followed by the Germans, and then Romanians. Moroccans were the sixth largest group and the largest non-Spanish nationality outside the EU purchasing 28% more than they did a year ago.